Widespread anti-government protests and serious flooding are the big stories from a week that might have changed Thailand forever. This edition of the Island Wrap also covers the first group of foreign tourists to enter the country since March along with environmental news and much more from coastal Thailand.
Last week I featured marvelous Ko Rawi and Ko Hin Ngam in the second of four posts on the Butang (or Adang) archipelago in the Lower Thai Andaman. My next installment gets a tad nerdy with an overview of the archipelago, including several maps, geographical facts and more. It will be out later this week.
A rare break in the rain in Bangkok, where tens of thousands of young people have come out to protest despite an emergency decree and the threat of riot police.
Feeling better after a bout with dengue fever, Stuart included Ko Sukorn on a list of places in Southeast Asia where he’s “ready to hide away.” On Couchfish, he dug into crab in Kep and pepper in Kampot as the Cambodia adventures continue.
Pick of the week: WEBSITE
Since the pandemic started, one resource that has helped to keep me aware of Thailand’s position in a wider regional context is The Southeast Asia Travel Show, a podcast hosted by Kuala Lumpur-based Hannah Pearson and Gary Bowerman. Their analysis covers a wide range of travel-related topics, from Thailand’s plans to reopen foreign tourism to fallout in the airline industry and how Covid-19 vaccine implementation might play out in the region. Gary’s newsletter, Asia Travel Re:Set, and Hannah’s insights at Pear Anderson, are worth a look as well.
Protests sweep across Thailand
Thailand feels like a changed country after anti-government protests erupted over the past week in Bangkok and dozens of other provinces.
The government tried to stop rallies in Bangkok late last week by arresting protest leaders, banning gatherings of five or more people, deploying riot police with water cannons, shutting down the metro system, and muzzling some media outlets. These moves backfired badly as tens of thousands of protesters came out in defiance while utilizing the fluid, leaderless tactics pioneered in Hong Kong.
The scene at Victory Monument, one of several protest sites on Sunday evening.
A piece by Matthew Wheeler of Crisis Group succinctly summarizes “what’s behind Bangkok’s wave of popular dissent,” and a Bangkok Post op-ed by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker explains why “the future of Thailand hangs in the balance.” I also suggest Washington Post’s look at the savvy protest tactics, while Khaosod English has some atypical story angles like the generational divide in Thai political ideology, protest lingo and how food vendors have been quicker than police.
I mainly follow Reuters, CNA and Thai Enquirer for the latest developments. Some of the journalists who report for these and other outlets — as well as independent media figure Richard Barrow — have been posting protest news in real time on Twitter.
While Bangkok is the epicenter of the movement, smaller protests have taken place in at least 12 coastal Thai cities and dozens more upcountry. Here’s a taste:
Above, in Chonburi (click here to view full-size photos).
On Phuket (click here to view full-size photos).
And in Songkhla (click here to view full-size photos).
Pro-establishment groups have held occasional counter protests, including one in Chonburi that drew around 1,000 people yesterday. So far, however, their numbers have fallen far short of the pro-democracy protests.
All of this makes for an unprecedented situation in a country where other large protests over the past two decades came with clearly defined leaders and involved pro-establishment “yellow shirts” or pro-democracy “red shirts.” On both sides, many of those protesters were bussed into Bangkok from other provinces.
This time, the protests are led by college students and attended by uniformed high-school students, among other young people, who are communicating on messaging and social media apps to launch spontaneous rallies.
While it’s exhilarating to see the youth stand up to an establishment that controls nearly all significant power structures in Thailand, the potential for a violent crackdown is worrisome.
Weather news
To some extent, the protests have overshadowed serious flooding caused by Tropical Storm Nangka and persistent monsoon rains. Flood-related deaths have been reported in the coastal provinces of Chanthaburi, Satun and Trang, where 920 houses flooded late last week. Some of the worst of it is inundating upcountry spots like Pak Thong Chai in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The situation over in Vietnam is much worse, with at least 105 deaths and nearly 180,000 submerged homes reported so far. Do keep the people there in mind as the third tropical storm in the last two weeks, Saudel, approaches from the South China Sea. Parts of Thailand are likely to feel its side effects as well.
Returning to Thailand, a fisherman from Myanmar is missing after falling overboard in rough seas near Ko Khram Yai in Chonburi province last Wednesday.
Down in Krabi, recent storms are being blamed for breaking a huge chunk of limestone off Ko Mae Urai (or Ko Thalu), one of the uninhabited karst specks found west of Ko Gai. Officials from Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park estimate that at least 30,000 metric tons of rock crashed into the sea, damaging 20% of a reef.
What it looks like when part of an island falls off. You would not have wanted to be snorkeling here at Ko Mae Urai when it happened. (Source: Dept. of National Parks)
Rough seas temporarily forced the closure of Mu Ko Similan Marine Park, which authorities had planned to reopen to tourists last Thursday. By Monday, the sea in that part of the Thai Andaman was calm enough for the first group of tourists to visit the Similans since these islands were closed in late March.
And in what will likely be a final update on the Raja 4 ferry that sank off Ko Samui on August 1st, the operation to salvage the wreck is now complete.
Wildlife and environmental news
Villagers on Ko Libong helped a dugong back into the sea after finding it beached and and “crying” at low tide. Here’s a video of their effort.
Ever seen a dugong cry? You have now. (Source: Dept. of National Parks)
It’s been a good year for dugongs in Thailand overall, with only 10 known deaths compared to 20 deaths by this point last year. In addition to Thailand’s largest dugong communities near Ko Libong and Ko Si Boya in the Thai Andaman, at least five of these cousins of the manatee live off the coast of Khanom district, not too far from Ko Samui, in an area that will soon receive official protection.
Fishers spotted a pod of Irrawaddy dolphins frolicking near Ko Chang (Trat) in the Eastern Gulf last Wednesday. And down on the Andaman coast at Khao Lampi - Hat Thai Mueang National park, leatherback sea turtle eggs were discovered for the first time in a couple of months, marking the start of a new nesting season.
A video (below) shot by Tom Vater and Laure Siegel for Phanganist spotlights efforts by the CORE Sea organization to remove “ghost nets” and other harmful debris from reefs around Ko Phangan.
Divers doing good near Ko Phangan. (Source: Phanganist)
Wranglers captured a four-meter king cobra that was spotted scaling a fence at a house in Phuket’s Kathu area. Meanwhile, officials in Chumphon are relocating 160 wild boar that have “become a menace” to residents.
Social media corner
Speaking of Chumphon, I’ve been enjoying tweets by Benjamin Lord that feature some of the province’s remote yet gorgeous bays and beaches, including the Ao Thung Maha area that I wrote about previously. Here are a few of his shots from Ao Bo Mao, another pretty beach overlooking uninhabited Ko Khai:
(Click here to view the full-size photos.)
Tourism industry news
The first 39 foreign tourists to enter Thailand since late March arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport near Bangkok yesterday at 5:10 P.M., coming from Shanghai on Spring Airlines flight 8542. A total of 41 tourists had been scheduled to enter with the new “special tourist visa” (STV), but two of them missed the flight. Those who made it will spend 14 days at one of Bangkok’s most affordable quarantine hotels.
The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says that most of these tourists “planned to visit the beach.” However, some onlookers are wondering if they’re actually part-time residents with vested interests in Thailand.
Authorities also insist that 120 tourists from Guangzhou who were initially scheduled to arrive in Phuket on October 8th will finally make it to Thailand on Monday the 26th. Meanwhile, 10 international airlines have been cleared to re-launch “semi-commercial” flights to the country. Talks are also underway to potentially open a “travel bubble” between Thailand and China by January.
The president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), Vichit Prakobgosol, is pushing for Thailand to allow 100,000 tourists to enter per month, without quarantine, from China, Taiwan and other low-risk countries. “I'm confident that we can contain the virus spread and reignite our economy at the same time,” he says.
Many people are questioning why tourists from China are being allowed in before expats with retirement and business visas who have been waiting for seven months to reunite with their families, properties and careers in Thailand. ThaiVisa is running a series of articles, dubbed “The Stranded,” to tell some of their stories.
Meanwhile, business owners and workers on Phuket are still looking for answers from the government about how they’re going to survive with so few foreign tourists allowed into the country. “We have shouted this and shown the extent of the damage done to the industry for months, and yet still nothing has been done,” says Thanusak Phungdet, president of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce.
Tourism industry leaders on Ko Samui are pressing the government to force Bangkok Airways, which has a monopoly on flights to the island, to lower its fares in an effort to attract more domestic tourists. “Unfortunately, the private sector owns all entry points to the island — both the airport and the pier,” says Vorasit Pongkumpunt, president of the Ko Samui Tourism Organization.
For a deep dive into the sad state of Thailand’s tourism sector, check out this article by Murray Hunter for Asia Sentinel.
In other news
Around 100 people gathered in Sattahip to voice their opposition to a concrete factory project that they say would damage the local environment.
In the week’s most bizarre and troubling story, a tourist from China who has been in Thailand since March was caught catching and torturing stray cats in his hotel room on Ko Phi Phi Don. (Seriously, don’t f*ck with cats.)
The annual Vegetarian Festival is in full swing on Phuket and in many other places around Thailand, with events continuing through this Sunday. Phuket Andaman News has a collection of photos from this jarring festival.
Mark Wiens continues to share the food of Deep Southern Thailand, this time with footage of cooking and eating Malay-style fish head curry in Pattani.
In other travel media, Global Gaz has an in-depth Ko Mak guide, and The Smart Local’s list of lesser-known attractions in Thailand includes a few in Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat that I’ve yet to check out.
Finally, Phanganist has an interview with the solo backpacker, Kimberley, who founded a Facebook group called “Sticking it out in Thailand” to help travelers who were stranded or otherwise stayed in the country when Thailand closed its borders to foreign tourists seven months ago. This online community has been a boon for hundreds of travelers, many of whom are still enjoying the island life on Ko Phangan, Ko Lanta, Ko Chang and plenty of other islands. 🌴